Principal Abdul Ghafar Kunchi Mohd (right) told Sin Chew that the students, some of whom do not understand Bahasa Malaysia well, had been advised, warned and even caned for not singing or respecting the 'Negaraku', but to no avail.

Assistant principal to be told to explain 

Ghafar said this could have been the reason the assistant principal had lost patience and uttered those remarks, but he would ask her to explain when she returns from a course tomorrow.

"However, whether Malay, Chinese or Indian, everyone is Malaysian. This remark should not have been uttered. Therefore I will ask the assistant principal to apologise to students at the assembly," he was quoted as saying.

The daily also quoted Deputy Education Minister P Kamalanathan as saying that the ministry would investigate the case, as students should not be subjected to such inappropriate remarks.

Last month, a school principal in a school in Shah Alam apologised to her students for telling them to "go back to India, China or Indonesia" if they did not want to respect the national anthem.-malaysiakini.